Subject and Object Partners

Learning Objective: Understand how to determine which aspect of a pair is in the subject position and which is in the object position.

Divine Principle Reading:

What is the relationship between internal nature and external form? The internal nature is intangible and causal, and stands in the position of a subject partner to the external form; the external form is tangible, resultant, and stands in the position of an object partner to the internal nature. The mutual relationships between these two aspects of an entity include: internal and external, cause and result, subject partner and object partner, vertical and horizontal. Let us again use the example of a human being, whose mind and body are his internal nature and external form, respectively. The body resembles the mind and moves according to its commands in such a way as to sustain life and pursue the mind’s purposes. Mind and body thus have a mutual relationship of internal and external, cause and result, subject partner and object partner, vertical and horizontal.

Activity: Who is the Subject and Object?

1. Explain:

  • As we have learned previously everything in our universe exists as a part of a pair system.
  • Wherever interaction occurs, two positions are established. We call those positions the “subject” and “object.”

2. Differentiate between subject & object:

  • Subject: Initiating and Creative Energy
  • Object: Responsive and Stimulating
  • For example, in human beings, our internal nature is the subject and our external form is the object.

3. Discuss or propose these questions to the youth:

  • Do you measure a person’s value by their external appearance or their internal qualities?
  • If a person is attractive but very selfish what would you say about them?
  • If a person is unattractive but has noble internal qualities what would you say about them?
  • In the ideal sense, the mind/internal nature is the subject partner and the body/external form is the object partner. When our body is able to follow the thoughts of our mind we are able to become people of character.

4. Put the youth into pairs and have them work together to come up with a scenario between a youth and one of the following people. Ask them to also determine who the subject and object partners are in those scenarios and share with the group.

  • Mom
  • Dad
  • Grandparent
  • Teacher
  • Pastor

5. Discuss that we are constantly switching between subject & object partner positions in many of our relationships:

  • Share a time with your family in which you were initiating energy. You were the subject partner in this scenario
  • Share a time with your family in which you were responding to someone else’s initiative. You were the object partner in this scenario.

Concluding Point: Subject and object partners are constantly engaging in dynamic interaction. We switch between these positions throughout the day.

section-oneManish Saluja